Brick building construction



Feb. 5, 1935. L, F. STARKS ET AL 1,990,008

BRICK BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 26, 1954 5 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTORS L1 Star/c5 EXEFlandezzs 1935. 1.. F. STARKS ET AL BRICK BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 26, 1934 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS LIYSiarlns E. EFlanders Feb. 5, 1935. L. F. STARKS ET AL 1,990,008

BRICK BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 26, 19:54 5 Shgebs-Sheet 5 INVENTORS L1 3 S tal'lcs BY E. F. -Fl an dens "Pma Patented Feb. 5, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Sacramento, Calif.

Application February 26, 1934, Serial No. 712,912

7 Claims.

This invention relates to brick: wall construction, its object being to increase the shearing and tension strength of walls or other structures of this material.

From time immemorial brick walls havev been erected by laying the bricks in the horizontal courses in such a manner that while the walls have of course good compressive strength and adequate resistance against vertical loads, they have absolutely no resistance against shear or tension except that of the mortar used as a binder, which is of low value.

In structural specifications for brick walls however the shearing value of mortar is not considered and as a result brick walls are deemed as having no shearing resistance. 1

In view of the widespread collapse of brick walls from earthquake shocks this fact or theory has been taken into consideration, and manypresent building codes, remodeled with a view to preventing such disastrous occurrences in the future, have given brick such a low rating for shear and tension that, the present method of laying brick does not make a wall strong enough to be ac-, ceptable to state building authoritiesin either public or private buildings.

The effect of all this up to this time has been to practically eliminate brick from any new construction. As a result the brick'industry of California, valued at about $50,000,000 is facing a closing down situation and must eventually lose the trade of the building industry. 1

Attempts have been made to give a brick wa the requisite. shearing strength by the use of vertical reinforcing rods such as are employed in concrete construction, but the use of such rods increases the cost of erection for various reasons to such an extent that they are not practicable.

With our improved wall construction on the other hand adequate shearing strength is given the wall without the use of reinforcing rods or other additional means, the cost of erection is not increased, and bricks of a single standard size are used throughout the wall. With our improved wall in mind therefore an architect or designer when figuring on new construction may again include brick in the choice of materials to be used and the advantageous features of brickconstruction which are had in certain cases can be retained;

These objects we accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear. by a perusal of the following specification and claims- In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Figure 1' is: a fragmentary perspective view of a 12" brick wall erected according to curinvention.

Figure2 is a transverse section on the line 22-of Figure 1 and including the foundation of the wall. I

Figure 3 is a similar view on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section on the line 44 of Figure 2.

Figures 5, 6, '7 and 8 are plan views of fourseparate and succeeding coursesof the wall.

Figure 9 is a fragmentary perspective of a 16" wall.

Figure 10 is a transverse section of the same on I the line 10l0 of Figure 9.

Figure 11 is a similar view on the line 11-11 of Figure 9.

Figures 12 and 13 are plan views of two of the courses of said wall.

In building our wall, brick of standard size only is used, whose dimensions are roughly 2 thick, 4" wide and 8" long. In other words, the thickness of-a 12" wall is one and one-half times the length of a brick, and the thickness of a 16" wall is the length of two bricks. Also the thickness of three bricks equals the length of a brick when allowance is made for the intervening mortar.

Referring to the 12" wall shown in Figures 1 to 8, said wall is built up of four differently laid horizontal courses A, B, C and D, said courses for their relative arrangement being repeated for the entire height of the wall. In the courses A, one

of which rests on the foundation F, is a row of brick 1 laid lengthwise along one side of the wall, while on the opposite side are longitudinally extending brick 2, transversely alined with the brick 1 but spaced apart their own length, and transversely extending brick 3 arranged in pairs and disposed'in the spaces between adjacent brick 2. Three brick 4 are disposed on the rectangular spaces outlined by the brick 1, 2 and 3, said brick 4 being disposed vertically with their width extending transversely of thewall.

The foundation F is preferably provided with a centrally located groove 6 in its upper surface whose width is equal to the thickness of a brick. The vertical bricks 4 depend at theirlowerends,

' the longitudinal spaces in the groove between the bricks 4 being occupied by filler bricks 6 laid lengthwise. If the foundation is not grooved the bricks 4 would be cut off to a correspondingly shorter length or height.

Since the bricks 4 are set on end with their length vertically, they naturally project the thickness of a brick above the course A, or through the course B as clearly shown in Figure 4.

The various courses B comprise longitudinally extending rows of bricks '7 along the sides of the wall, said bricks '7 being horizontally staggered from the bricks 1 and 2 of the course below. The spaces between the sets of vertical bricks 4, which as stated project .to the top of the course B, are filled by other sets of vertically disposed bricks 8 which of course project upwardly through the courses C and D to the top of, the latter. Said bricks 8 of course rest on the upper exposed surfaces of the bricks 3 of the course below.

In the various courses C, the bricks are laid in the same manner as in the courses A, but the arrangement is reversed. In other words the bricks 9 in the continuous longitudinally extending row are on the side of the wall opposite to the bricks 1 while the spaced longitudinally extending bricks 10 with the intermediate pairs of transversely extending bricks 11 are on the opposite side of the wall. The bricks 9 and 10 are staggered relative to the bricks 7 or vertically alined with the bricks l and 2, while the pairs of transverse bricks 11 are of course disposed in centrally'offset relation to the pairs of bricks 3.

In the courses D the bricks 12 forming the sides of the wall are arranged in the same manner as in the courses B and in vertical alinement therewith, or in staggered relation to the bricks in the courses C. Additional sets of vertically laid bricks 13 are disposed in the spaces between the sets of bricks 8, which extend upwardly through the subsequent courses A and B and occupy the same position relative thereto as the bottom sets of vertical bricks 4, and are of course vertically alined with the latter.

The dowel units comprising the three vertical bricks 3, 8 or 13, and the horizontal units 3 and 11 may be initially formed as a solid unit by the manufacturer and these units might also be made of other than brick material, if desired.

From the above arrangementit will be seen that the difierent vertical sets of bricks, disposed as they are in vertically staggered relation to each other, form an eifective and unbroken lock between all the different horizontal courses of the wall, so that the horizontal layer of mortar between each course is broken at intervals by the interposed vertical bricks. This construction therefore as will be evident imparts a shearing strength to the wall both lengthwise and horizontally, which is proportional to the shearing strength of the number of bricks thus disposed and which will be seen from Figure i is considerable. On account of the peculiar staggering of the vertical bricks through the various horizontal courses, any shearing strains imparted to one course are transmitted to all the courses so that the strains to collapse the wall would have to be severe enough to shear through all the vertical bricks themselves.

In the 16" wall shown in Figures 9 to 13 the same general arrangement of the bricks is retained, the wall being laid in four repeated courses A, B, C, and D. However since the wall is thicker additional transverse shearing strength is imparted thereto over what is had and necessary in the relatively narrow wall.

The arrangement of the rowsof vertical bricks 14 is the same as that of the bricks Q, 8 and 13 described in connection with the 12" well. Also said rows are positioned the same relative to one side of the wall, as will be seen by comparing Figures 2 and 3 with 10 and 11, and Figure 5 with Figure 12.

We have also provided however additional sets of vertically laid bricks 15 which are disposed in transversely staggered relation to the sets of bricks 14, as well as being vertically staggered relative thereto as shown in Figure 10. The result of course is the samenamely,- the reinforcing of the wall against shearing strains both longitudinally and transversely of the wall-the shearing strength of this wider wall being obviously double that of the narrow wall.

While we have here shown two examples or" construction in which our invention may be used it will be obvious that it may be employed in any brick structures such as piers, pilasters, and in bulkheads or in walls of greater or lesser thickness than those here shown and described.

The staggered dowelling system used should in no event be confused with any facing pattern scheme, as 'it is always inside the wall where it performs a definite structural function.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that we have produced such a device as substantially fulfils the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device,

still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A wall comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending courses, said courses including horizontally laid bricks forming the inner and outer faces of the wall, and vertically laid bricks interspersed in the wall intermediate the inner and outer faces thereof and arranged relative to the horizontally laid bricks to bond all the courses together against independent relative horizontal movement.

2. A wall comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending courses, said courses including horizontally laid bricks forming the inner and outer faces of the wall, vertically laid bricks disposed intermediate said faces of and at intervals in the length of the wall and projecting through a plurality of courses, and other vertically laid bricks disposed between the first named vertically laid bricks and arranged in vertically staggered relation thereto.

3. A wall comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending courses, said courses including horizontally laid bricks, vertically laid bricks projecting upwardly from the bottom of one course through the succeeding course above, and other vertically laid bricks projecting upwardly from the bottom of said succeeding course and through the course above; said vertical brick arrangement being carried out through the entire height of the wall whereby all the courses in the wall are doweled together against relative horizontal independent displacement.

4. A well comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending courses, said courses including horizontally laid bricks, vertically laid bricks arranged along and in the wall and common to more than one course, and other vertically laid brick in the wall disposed in both transversely and vertically staggered relation to the first named vertical bricks.

5. Wall construction includingwith a foundation having a longitudinal groove in its upper surface, vertically laid brick spaced lengthwise of the foundation depending into said groove in zontal mortar lines of all the courses are longitudinally discontinuous through the center of the wall in a given horizontal plane.

'7. A mortar and brick wall comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending courses; said courses consisting of transversely spaced rows of bricks forming the inner and outer faces of the wall, and a centralrow of bricks disposed between said innerfland outer faces in vertically staggered relation; and arranged relative to the bricks of the first named rows so that the horizontal mortar lines of all the courses of the wall are longitudinally discontinuous through the center row, in a given horizontal plane.

LEONARD F. STARKS. EDWARD F. FLANDERS. 

